Room to move

JACOB’S PILLOW DANCE FESTIVAL This week’s offerings pair the venerable and the experimental, though the 73-year-old Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s program in the Ted Shawn Theatre of Mauricio Wainrot’s “Carmina Burana” and Peter Quanz’s “In Tandem” dances on ballet’s more contemporary edge. In the Doris Duke Theatre, the eclectic, inventive Jonah Bokaer brings the US premiere of his new multimedia trio “Curtain,” set to an original score by singer-songwriter Chris Garneau.Pictured: Jo-Ann Sundermeier of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. Through Aug. 5. $38-$70. Becket. 413-243-0745, www.jacobspillow.org Karen Campbell

Theater

BILLY ELLIOT THE MUSICAL A coal miner’s son makes the life-changing discovery that he has a gift for dance. Director Stephen Daldry and librettist Lee Hall do not allow the plight of Billy’s family and community to recede from view, even as this fine and stirring show tracks his attempt to land an audition at the Royal Ballet School. Featuring a score by Elton John of surprising rigor and grit. Through Aug. 19. Presented by Broadway in Boston. Boston Opera House. 800-982-2787, www.broadwayinboston.com

THE ELABORATE ENTRANCE OF CHAD DEITY An exhilaratingly sharp production, directed by Shawn LaCount, of Kristoffer Diaz’s grimly funny satire. It’s set in the world of professional wrestling, but Diaz’s real target is our national addiction to ethnic stereotypes, our need to frame the world as a simple matter of heroes vs. villains, and our impulse to commodify any attempt at cultural authenticity. Through Aug. 25. Presented by Company One. Roberts Studio Theatre, Boston Center for the Arts. 617-933-8600, www.companyone.org

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THE TEMPEST Under the direction of Tony Simotes, her onetime student, Olympia Dukakis portrays the island magician Prospera as ambivalent about her powers right from the start, lending an elegiac aura to this solid production of a work often seen as Shakespeare’s adieu to the stage. Through Aug. 19. Shakespeare & Company, Tina Packer Playhouse, Lenox. 413-637-3353, www.shakespeare.org

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TOTEM Virtuosity topped with Vegas cheese: It’s the tried-and-true Cirque du Soleil recipe, and it works well in this show, written and directed by the ubiquitous Robert Lepage, a man who knows a thing or two about juggling. Through Aug. 5. Presented by Cirque du Soleil. Big Top, Boston Marine Industrial Park. 800-450-1480, www.cirque duoleil.com/totem

CAR TALK: THE MUSICAL!!! Based on NPR’s popular call-in program, this show might seem an unlikely proposition. But with the help of Tom and Ray Magliozzi, who contributed their voices to the project, Wesley Savick has cobbled a wacky plot, clever song parodies, the brothers’ trademark outrageous puns, and a fine cast into a production that’s running like a top. Through Sept. 2. Presented by Underground Railway Theater and Suffolk University. Central Square Theater, Cambridge. 866-811-4111

KEIGWIN + COMPANY One of the highlights of the Bates Dance Festival’s 30th-anniversary season is the return of this dynamite troupe, which packs a visceral punch while engaging the mind and tickling the funny bone. The program features five Maine premieres, including a new solo by Larry Keigwin and a new quartet for four male dancers. Aug. 2-4, $12-$24. Bates College’s Schaeffer Theatre, Lewiston, Maine. 207-786-6381, www.batesdancefestival.org

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LUMINARIUM DANCE COMPANY The troupe’s Center for Arts at the Armory Residency culminates with preview performances of excerpts from the new “Mythos: Pathos.” Rearranging and reimagining themes and characters from Greek mythology via a contemporary lens, the dance unfolds amid an art installation created with a variety of mundane donated objects, from broken umbrellas to light bulbs. Aug. 3-4, 8 p.m. $15 ($12 students/seniors). Armory, Somerville. 617-477-4494,www.luminariumdance.org

Karen Campbell

Galleries

IRENE LIPTON Lipton's abstractions on square canvases are characterized by vibrant, swirling, looping networks of lines, like fluid cell clusters that overlap and often play over fields of color. Space and tonality play second fiddle here, though, to exuberant gesture. Through Aug. 9. Albert Merola Gallery, 424 Commercial St., Provincetown. 508-487-4424, www.universalfineobjects.com

JEANNE WILLIAMSON: FENCE/ CURTAIN 2.0 This summer's public art installation on the Boston Center for the Arts Plaza is Williamson’s blend of fence and curtain, stiff, but with drape and pattern. It’s part construction materials, part water-resistant cotton. Through Oct. 31. Boston Center for the Arts, 551 Tremont St. 617-426-8835, www.bcaonline.org

02127/02210 An exhibit of work by artists who live or work in South Boston, and who serve the neighborhood and the city as activists, administrators, and artists. These include Pat Falco, Steve Hollinger, and Gabrielle Schaffner. Through Aug. 31. Spoke Gallery, Medicine Wheel Productions, 110 K St., South Boston. 617-268-6700, www.mwponline.org

Cate McQuaid

Museums

OS GEMEOS The first US solo exhibition by the Brazilian street artist twins, Otavio and Gustavo Pandolfo. The show includes paintings and sculptures and is complemented by two giant murals, one at the Revere Hotel, and the other on the Rose Kennedy Greenway. Through Nov. 25. Institute of Contemporary Art. 617-478-3100, www.icaboston.com

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OH, CANADA An ambitious survey of the best of contemporary art from Canada. Through April 1. Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams. 413-662-2111, www.massmoca.org

ANSEL ADAMS: AT THE WATER’S EDGE Famous and lesser-known photographs of water in all its various forms by the celebrated American photographer. Through Oct. 8. Peabody Essex Museum, Salem. 866-745-1876, www.pem.org

TRANSCENDING NATURE: PAINTINGS BY ERIC AHO The first American museum survey of this gifted New England painter, inspired both by nature and painterly abstraction. Through Sept. 9. Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, NH. 603-669-6144, www.currier.org

Sebastian Smee

Baker’s place

CHRIS BAKER: INTERIOR VIEWS Light appears to be a liquid in Baker's paintings. Using drawings and photographs as sources, he pushes color and form toward abstraction, but maintains a sense of place — even if that place seems about to dissolve. Pictured: Baker’s 2012 oil-on-canvas “Open Doors.” Through Aug. 26. Jane Deering Gallery, 18 Arlington St., Gloucester. 978-281-8051, www.janedeeringgallery.com Cate McQuaid